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About luv2teach77

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Profile Information

Gender

Male

City

New Baden

State

Illinois

Immigration Info

Immigration Status

Naturalization (approved)

Place benefits filed at

Phoenix AZ Lockbox

Local Office

Saint Louis MO

Country

England

Our Story

Debs and I met online in 2002 and finally met in person in 2003. We were engaged in Paris in 2004 and filed our K-1 paperwork in August of 2004. My K-1 visa was approved in February of 2005 and I moved to the US in March of 2005. Debbie and were married on April 29th, 2005. I was granted a 10 year green card in 2008 and attended my naturalization oath ceremony on March 1st, 2018 which officially marks the end of my Visa Journey. VisaJourney has been an invaluable resource throughout this entire process.

Hi everyone,
I've just discovered this thread but wanted to report that I applied for my first US passport on March 1st, the same day I attended my naturalization ceremony. I applied at my local post office, standard service. I was told most applications were taking 4-6 weeks.
I received email notification that they had received my application March, 5th. My check was cashed on March 7th. This morning I checked the status and it just said it was being processed. This afternoon I got another email saying processing is complete and my passport should be delivered by March, 18th !! If that turns out to be true, I'm highly impressed they were able to turn around a new passport in under 3 weeks from the date of application.
I'll try and work out how to get my info into the official timeline later.
Just wanted to provide a recent update !!
Thanks,
Mark

It's a little surreal that by lunchtime tomorrow, my immigration journey will be over and I'll be a Naturalized US Citizen.
I took my sweet time applying for Naturalization (I've been in the US since 2005 and a greencard holder since 2006), and the application process has been lengthy too (almost 14 months from start to finish) but tomorrow will hopefully be the last piece of USCIS red tape that I'll have to navigate.
To those of you still waiting... hang in there !!
Thanks,
Mark

While this may be possible, be aware that the burden of proof is on her that she isn't abusing the tourist visa process. If she can't show substantial ties to her home country, she could be denied another tourist visa. A better option may be for her to return to Korea for a couple months and then visit you again. It is allowed for her to visit you even after the I-129F is approved and returning for a couple of months would probably look better in the eyes of the CBP officers when she tries to re-enter the US again. Remember, she will have to attend her interview at the US embassy / consulate in her home country at the end of the process anyway so she won't be able to remain in the US for the whole time anyway !!
Best of luck !!
Mark

Like everything immigration related, potential timelines are very elastic. Priority dates are pretty rigid from an adjudication point of view and the USCIS stays pretty tight lipped until you reach or exceed that date. Everything else is pretty fluid and the best plan is to not expect anything to go per the advertised guidelines. I engaged my local congressman as I approached my priority date but can't be sure if that sped anything up or not.
Good luck !!
Mark

I'm not 100% sure when the St. Louis office received my file. My online status didn't update between my biometrics being scheduled and receiving my interview notice in the mail. I submitted my N-400 paperwork in late December, 2016 and just had my interview this week. I can't be any more specific with the St. Louis part of the timeline than that I'm afraid.

Here's a little more detail on my N-400 Naturalization interview yesterday.
My interview notice said I was scheduled for 8am so I arrived in the designated office on the 2nd floor at around 7.45. It was the same room I'd been to before to attend various infopass appointments over the last 12 years. There were 4 or 5 other people already sat around, some had infopass appointments and were called in turn to talk to the woman manning the infopass desk.
Luckily, after about 10 minutes, the lady doing the infopass appointments asked if anyone was there for something other than an infopass appointment ? I told her I was and she said that anyone here for an interview had to place our interview notices in the mailbox at the back of the room. If she hadn't told me this, I'd have never known that was what was expected. I could have been there all day !! Anyways... I mailed my notice in the slot and almost immediately my name was called and I walked back to a smaller office with the interviewing officer. She told me her name but so quickly that I had to ask for it again after I entered her office. She made raise my right hand and swear to tell the truth before telling m to sit down.
She had my file on her desk already and asked me for my green card, drivers license and my passports (current and expired). I had made copies of all of those documents plus birth certificates, marriage certificates, divorce decrees, last 3 years of tax returns but was never asked for any of them. Although I came to the US on a K-1 Visa back in 2005, I've been a green card holder long enough to file based on years of permanent residency. That drastically reduced the amount of supporting documentation I submitted with my application and also what was required for the interview !!
The USCIS interviewer told me she preferred to give the test(s) first and started with the reading / writing "test". I'm 40 years old and English is my first language so this was never going to be a problem but I was tested anyway. I had to read "What month is Columbus Day ?" and then write "Columbus Day is in October". Easy peasy !! Then onto the civics test...
I should say that although I've had the book (and accompanying CD) since my biometrics appointment in January, I truly hadn't started looking at it until about 2 weeks ago. Between several study sessions with my wife and 8 year old daughter and having the CD on a loop in my car during my 2 hour round trip to work, I felt pretty confident. I was told she had to take my first answer. She asked the following 6 questions (which I answered correctly so didn't need any more)...
1) Who would serve as president if the President and Vice President were unable to ? - Speaker of the house
2) What does the Cabinet do ? - Advises the president
3) How many supreme court judges are there ? - 9
4) How long do we appoint a US senator for ? - 6 years
5) Name one branch of the Federal Government ? - Executive branch
6) <The last question escapes me but I know I got it right !!>
At that point she very quickly went over my application, verifying some details and updating some others (I started a new job 3 weeks ago). She thumbed through my passport and asked if I'd made any trips outside the US since applying (I hadn't).
At that point she said that she was approving me and that I would be notified of the date and location of my oath ceremony soon. One piece of information I wasn't aware of was that although I interviewed in St. Louis, my interview will be in Illinois near where I live. She confirmed that I knew what taking the oath of allegiance meant, had me sign one last piece of paper and that was it. The whole interview took less than 15 minutes.
Hopefully this account is of some use to someone in the future. The interviewer was very personable and the whole process went very smoothly.
Thanks,
Mark

At my interview yesterday I was told that I needed to bring the following to the oath ceremony...
1) My current Green Card (Which would get turned in after the ceremony)
2) My Illinois drivers license
3) My oath ceremony invite
I don't think I was told to bring anything else.
Thanks,
Mark

Thanks @CookieCat,
Long story short, my interview took less than 15 minutes yesterday. I answered the first 6 questions correctly and now have to wait for my oath ceremony to be scheduled. I will update in more detail soon !!
The end is in sight !!
Mark

Out of the blue I finally received my I-797C showing my interview is scheduled for November 6th in St. Louis. My online case status hasn't been updated since my biometrics appointment in January and I've received no email or text updates.
Guess I better start studying for the civics test now !!
Hope you all hear something soon !!
Mark

So out of nowhere I received the I-797C notification in the mail this morning stating that my interview is scheduled for 8am on November 6th in St. Louis .
My online status hasn't changed since January and I never received any email or text updates. The notice was dated September 27th. I'll attempt to update my line in the table.
Thanks,
Mark